“Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.”  - Proverbs 11:25b

It was October 2007, I was sitting in biology class at Cornerstone University and minding my own business. All of a sudden I felt like time stopped…then the Lord just began to just pour this vision for a worship ministry into my life. It was a crazy experience because I felt like I wasn’t even really “in the room”, I was just so caught up in what was happening to me. After class, I went back to my apartment and wrote everything down the best I could. Over the last few years I’ve gotten more bits and pieces which is always exciting. I’m looking forward to the day when it goes from dream to reality. And that’s how it started.

A spiritual “pet peeve” of mine, if you will, is seeing burnt out leaders in churches. (And burnt out Christians for that matter) It’s sad to me because I have been there many times and know the feeling. Bill Hybels in his book, Holy Discontent, talks about having your Popeye moment, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more.” It’s that one thing that grabs a hold of your soul and drives you bring about change. The Well is that for me.

The Well is based on Proverbs 11:25 (above). I want The Well to be a place where pastors, worship leaders/team members, ministry leaders, volunteers, and anyone else who is used to giving and serving to come and be served. A place where leaders can be a sponge and just soak the refreshing presence of God. We ask and expect a lot from our leaders and it can be draining. The Well would be a place where they can come and be filled.

A ministry like The Well would have an opportunity to build a unique type of community. The Well would be on a day that doesn’t conflict with typical weekend services (that would defeat the purpose). I want people getting recharged and fired-up and then heading back to their local churches ready to roll. Also being a songwriter, If we started writing original songs as a community, it’s would be an avenue where now other worship leaders and pastors can come hear new songs and bring them back and incorporate them into their own services.

Andrew W. Blackwood said, ”The time has come for a revival of public worship as the finest of the fine arts…While there is a call for strong preaching there is even a greater need for uplifting worship.”

Nothing touches my soul like powerful music. That’s what I want to bring. Really good, powerful, authentic worship in an environment where the Spirit can do his thing and we all get to be a part of it.

That is some of my vision for The Well. I am doing my best to wait patiently for the right timing of this whole thing and to make sure I hear God’s leading.

This ministry simply won’t happen without people who share a similar goal. I can’t do it by myself, but if people can catch the vision, then I believe we could have something unique and special. So all I ask is that you pray. Pray for The Well, pray for the right time and the right people to be involved. If The Well is something that sounds good to you then please let me know…Email me and we can talk. Also if anyone has any advice and/or strategies for getting it off the ground, I’m all ears. Thanks for reading!

The Well: A time to be refreshed. A time to pour into other people’s lives.

This is a post from Steven Furtick’s blog…

I think this is a great post for worship teams and worshippers alike.

“One of the biggest obstacles for many people in worship comes when it’s time to sing a song or a line they don’t fully mean or haven’t fully lived up to.Lines that declare that we’re ready to sacrifice everything, when giving 10% of our income feels like a harder sacrifice to make than martyrdom. Songs about God’s glory being our greatest passion, when it’s usually our greatest afterthought.Some choose not to sing these lines or songs at all. They wouldn’t dare sing something they don’t mean or live. Others sing them, but feel like they’re being hypocritical.

Both of these groups miss an essential truth of worship: Worship isn’t an assessment of my performance but a statement of my intention.

If I had to completely mean and live every word every time I sang it, I would never sing. Nobody would. Even the men who wrote the Psalms.

By still singing, we’re not being hypocritical. We’re training our flesh to submit to our spirit. We’re stating our intentions. We’re saying, “Make this true, Lord. I want my life to catch up to the truth I’m singing.”I want your glory to be my greatest passion.I want to be willing to sacrifice everything for you.It’d only be hypocritical if we had no intention of living up to these declarations.

And consider this: even if you had your act completely together, you’d still be just as unworthy to sing a single syllable. But God has commanded you to worship anyways. And that’s because your performance and feelings aren’t the admission price for true worship. Jesus’ blood is.

So continue to sing. Continue to worship. Let the discrepancy between the words you’re singing and the life you’re living be an engine for repentance. Not a cause for shame or silence.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” ~Matthew 11.28-30 NIV

I need a constant reminder to give things up to God. It seems so natural to want to hold on to our problems ourselves and deal with them alone. Our illusion of control is at risk and so we squeeze and hold on thinking we can make a difference in our situations if we remain in control.

Control can get overwhelming. It can become exhausting when you feel you are going through it all alone and then ultimately it becomes discouraging when you realize you really don’t have control at all.

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” ~1 Peter 5.7 NLT

We weren’t designed to take on our troubles and burdens by ourselves. God asks us to give them to Him so he can help us. Matthew Henry adds, “He is willing to release you of your care, and take the care of you upon himself. He will either avert what you fear, or support you under it. He will order all events to you so as shall convince you of his paternal love and tenderness towards you; and all shall be so ordered that no hurt, but good, shall come unto you.”

But why do we not take Him up on this off more often? I think it all comes down to trust.

Do we truly trust God? Do we really think that He can make a difference in our situations? Is it worth being vulnerable and putting ourselves out there?

“With all your heart you must trust the LORD and not your own judgment. Always let him lead you, and he will clear the road for you to follow.” ~Proverbs 3.5-6 CEV

Our own judgment and wisdom will fail us. We are not to trust our instincts. We must trust what God says. He promises us that if we trust in Him, He will show, direct, make smooth, guide, straighten, clear, and lead us down the path we need to take.

Trust Him…something to chew on.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much…” ~ Luke 16:10a

It is very easy to feel insignificant in a culture that pours so much focus and praise into our so-called “celebrities” and celebrity jobs (even though most often, they tend to be the most broken and poor role-models) It’s easy to feel forgotten when your title doesn’t include president, CEO, PhD, director, manager, etc. in it. But honestly, it doesn’t matter.

God doesn’t care about your job title, or if you even have a job. But he does care, however, about the activities of our hearts and our faithfulness in what he asks us to do.

Many of you may know that I have a vision to start a worship ministry called The Well. But many of you may not know that I was given that vision in 2007. Now 4 years may not seem like a long time to some of you, but when you feel called to do something, and it’s the very thing you are most passionate about, 4 years is half an eternity!

My point is, is that we all probably have something that we are working towards or waiting for. It could be a finding a fulfilling  job, waiting for a family member to turn back to the Lord, buying a home, finding a spouse, or even starting a worship ministry. Most often the time in-between will feel like forever, the time in-between will be hard, draining, and will test our endurance, patience, and our faith; but I believe the reward far outweighs the costs. Sometimes we aren’t ready when we think we are. Our timing is not God’s timing. The valley is never a fun place to be in, but that is where we grow. Sometimes it takes time for our roots to grow deep. A tree’s root can grow 1.5 to 3 times the size of its canopy! This helps the tree become unshakable. Maybe God is letting your roots grow and mature first so you can become unshakable in what He wants to accomplish with you.

Continue to be faithful in the small things. What you do matters! God has a purpose and a reason as to why you are where you are. Don’t give up. The flip side to being trusted with little, is being trusted with much! I need to be reminded to continue to do what I know I should do, and not get discouraged but trust in God’s timing for what He wants to accomplish in me. I know the small will be big one day soon.

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” ~Matt. 25:21

The few famous words from our GPS’ bring us security knowing we are on the right path and made it to where we wanted to be. But on the roadmap of life we don’t have a GPS to tell us the way; we don’t always know which path is the right path to take. So how do we navigate our way to make sure we end up where we want to be?

A good place to start is looking at where we came from. Following the path from where we were to where we are now, will give us a great indication of where we will end up. It’s easy to look back and see how we got to where we are now, but it often seems impossible to know where we will end up. But Andy Stanley adds,

Looking ahead we are often deceived into thinking that life is a series of unrelated decisions, and somehow we will end up where we want to be simple by force of will or luck…A path, like all paths, has a specific and often-times predictable destination.

Are you feeling lost? Are you not sure where you are heading? Maybe you know where you want to end up but aren’t sure if you are currently on the right path…

Reflect on the paths that you’ve chosen. Think about the choices you are currently making. Look back and see where you were and where you are now to determine your direction. Then you can use your direction to determine your destination. It takes more than just good intentions to get to where we want to be…we have to make sure we are headed in the right direction.

It’s important to look inside ourselves and give ourselves a checkup…

So…’Arriving at your destination’ or ‘recalculating?’ Which path are you heading for?

Recently some people close to me and I have been going through somewhat of a trying season. Even though our situations and circumstances are different, the root of it all still remains the same.

Will we continue to trust God through this adversity? Will we continue to seek Him faithfully despite how we feel? Will we truly believe that He still has a hand on our life and that His will for us is best?

I think every Christian has to answer those questions. And as I began to think about my situations, I thought of the story of Joseph.

Joseph definitely had adversity in his life but was greatly rewarded for his faithfulness. We were told many times throughout the story of Joseph that he remained faithful and that the Lord was with him. I think honestly I sometimes simply forget that the Lord is with me. I feel like I have to carry the weight myself or go at it alone…but that’s not true. There is extreme comfort and peace in knowing that God is with us, and yet it seems easy to forget or not truly believe.

The Lord was with Joseph…the Lord is also with us. We have direct access to a God that is infinitely bigger than our pain, circumstances, finances, and adversities. The Lord promises us that if we remain in Him, He will remain in us…(John 15:4-5)

Going through tough seasons is never easy. Adversity is not easy. But knowing that we serve a God who is present in our lives and who promises to be faithful to us regardless of how we are to Him is quite amazing.

“A miracle will always happen on the other side of obedience.“

I’m not sure what you are going through, but remain faithful, remain obedient. Continue to seek Him no matter what your circumstance are. And remember…God is with you.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ~ 1 Thess 5:16-18 (emphasis mine)

When life get hectic and challenging, I find that sometimes the first thing to go is my prayer life. Really this should be our life-line and what we run towards first. Nothing gets us back in the flow of the Spirit like prayer. Jesus prayed for and about everything and he prayed often…We should follow his lead.

I been challenged lately to pray a whole lot more continuously and continually give things up to God. Prayer really is a powerful thing and it’s a shame that we so often overlook it.

When we pray, hearts get convicted, sin gets confessed, believers get united, intentions get encouraged, people receive guidance, the church is strengthened, stubbornness gets melted, wills get surrendered, evil gets defeated, grace gets released, illness gets healed, sorrows are comforted, faith is born, hope is grown, and love triumphs. In prayer — in the presence of God — we come closest to being fully ourselves. ~John Ortberg

Here’s to getting back in the flow…anyone else struggle with continual prayer?

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” ~ Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT)

Seeing personal growth in yourself is always something difficult to measure. Even harder than finding faults in yourself is asking people to find them for you. Most of the time I am blind to my shortcomings. I love this scripture because it is such an honest prayer. It’s a difficult but necessary prayer to pray. And who better to help you see your weaknesses than the Lord?!

Choosing to be a better version of yourself is a constant battle. It’s not something that you can clock in and clock out with. I’ve been wanting and trying to be a better me lately. It’s not easy. I have a long way to go but I am willing to be better. My prayer is that I will remove planks before specks, my quick to listen and slow to speak, and be full of forgiveness and grace towards others because that’s what I need the most myself.

This week may a good time to reflect and ask the Lord to show you how you can be the best version of yourself…the one he created you to be!

Have a great week!

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” ~John 3:30 (KJV)

Giving things up to God is probably one of the hardest things for me to do. I sometimes fall victim to the trap that I actually have control over things in my life. So after a lot of unnecessary stress and headaches, I will realize that I can’t do things on my own anyway and then give it to God.

But why can’t I get there sooner? Why is it so difficult to let things go and give them up?

For me, I think it comes down to a trust issue. Do I really trust that things will all work out in the end? Do I really trust that once it’s out of my hands, it won’t all fall apart? Do I really trust that God has my benefit and well-being in mind?

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” ~Romans 8:28

The truth is God does want things to work out for us and he does have our wellbeing in mind. God didn’t design us to carry burdens by ourselves. He doesn’t want us take on the weight of the world on our shoulders. He wants us to give him our concerns and troubles and help us on our journey…He certainly knows it’s not always easy.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” ~Matthew 11:28

When I have a lot on my plate and I know that I have things that I definitely need to hand over to God, I need to look at His Word and realize that God makes promises to us, and He will keep those promises. When God says to give him something and he will give you rest…he means it. When God says to cast all your cares, anxieties, and worries on him because he cares about you(1Peter 5:7)…he means it. And when God says that he has everything under control and that if you continue to love him and seek his kingdom first, that he will make sure things work out for you…he means that too.

It’s not worth the stress and heartache to think that we have control over our circumstances…I would much rather give it up to someone who has a pretty good track record of following through on his promises.

I just need to let some things go…you?

Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops —Matthew 10:27

{via My Utmost For His Highest}